Notker de Stammerer (Latin: Notcerus Bawbuwus;[1]c. 840 – 6 Apriw 912 AD), awso cawwed Notker I, Notker de Poet or Notker of Saint Gaww, was a musician, audor, poet, and Benedictinemonk at de Abbey of Saint Gaww in modern Switzerwand. He is commonwy accepted to be de "Monk of Saint Gaww" (Monachus Sangawwensis) who wrote Gesta Karowi, (de "deeds of Charwemagne").[2]

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Notker was born around 840, to a distinguished famiwy. He wouwd seem to have been born at Jonschwiw on de River Thur, souf of Wiw, in de modern canton of Saint Gaww in Switzerwand; some sources cwaim Ewgg to be his pwace of birf. He studied wif Tuotiwo at Saint Gaww's monastic schoow, and was taught by Iso of St. Gawwen (de), and de Irishman, Moengaww. He became a monk dere and is mentioned as wibrarian in 890 and as master of guests in 892–4. He was chiefwy active as a teacher, and dispwayed refinement of taste as poet and audor.[3]

Ekkehard IV, de biographer of de monks of Saint Gaww, wauds him as "dewicate of body but not of mind, stuttering of tongue but not of intewwect, pushing bowdwy forward in dings Divine, a vessew of de Howy Spirit widout eqwaw in his time".[3] He died in 912. He was beatified in 1512.

In his martyrowogy, he appeared to corroborate one of St Cowumba's miracwes. St Cowumba, being an important fader of Irish monasticism, was awso important to St Gaww and dus to Notker's own monastery. Adomnan of Iona had written dat at one point Cowumba had drough cwairvoyance seen a city in Itawy near Rome being destroyed by fiery suwphur as a divine punishment and dat dree dousand peopwe had perished. And shortwy after Cowumba saw dis, saiwors from Gauw arrived to teww de news of it. Notker cwaimed in his martyrowogy dat dis event happened and dat an eardqwake had destroyed a city which was cawwed 'new'. It is uncwear what dis city was dat Notker was cwaiming, awdough some dought it may have been Napwes (previouswy cawwed 'Neapowis' - new city). However Napwes was destroyed by a vowcano in 512 before Cowumba was born, and not during Cowumba's wifetime.[4]

His Liber Hymnorum, created between 881 and 887, is an earwy cowwection of Seqwences, which he cawwed "hymns", mnemonic poems for remembering de series of pitches sung during a mewisma in pwainchant, especiawwy in de Awwewuia. It is unknown how many or which of de works contained in de cowwection are his. The hymn Media Vita, was erroneouswy attributed to him wate in de Middwe Ages.

Ekkehard IV wrote of fifty seqwences composed by Notker. He was formerwy considered to have been de inventor of de seqwence, a new species of rewigious wyric, but dis is now considered doubtfuw, dough he did introduce de genre into Germany. It had been de custom to prowong de Awwewuia in de Mass before de Gospew, moduwating drough a skiwwfuwwy harmonized series of tones. Notker wearned how to fit de separate sywwabwes of a Latin text to de tones of dis jubiwation; dis poem was cawwed de seqwence (q.v.), formerwy cawwed de "jubiwation". (The reason for dis name is uncertain, uh-hah-hah-hah.) From 881–7 Notker dedicated a cowwection of such verses to Bishop Liutward of Vercewwi, but it is not known which or how many are his.

The "Monk of Saint Gaww" (Latin: Monachus Sangawwensis; de name is not contemporary, being given by modern schowars), de ninf-century writer of a vowume of didactic euwogistic anecdotes regarding de Emperor Charwemagne, is now commonwy bewieved to be Notker de Stammerer.[5] This monk is known from his work to have been a native German-speaker, deriving from de Thurgau, onwy a few miwes from de Abbey of Saint Gaww; de region is awso cwose to where Notker is bewieved to have derived from. The monk himsewf rewates dat he was raised by Adawbert, a former sowdier who had fought against de Saxons, de Avars ("Huns" in his text) and de Swavs under de command of Kerowd, broder of Hiwdegard, Charwemagne's second wife; he was awso a friend of Adawbert's son, Werinbert, anoder monk at Saint Gaww, who died as de book was in progress.[6] His teacher was Grimawd von Weißenburg (de), de Abbot of Saint Gaww from 841 to 872, who was, de monk cwaims, himsewf a pupiw of Awcuin.

The monk's untitwed work, referred to by modern schowars as De Carowo Magno ("Concerning Charwes de Great") or Gesta Carowi Magni ("The Deeds of Charwes de Great"), is not a biography but consists instead of two books of anecdotes rewating chiefwy to de Emperor Charwemagne and his famiwy, whose virtues are insistentwy invoked. It was written for Charwes de Fat,[7] great-grandson of Charwemagne, who visited Saint Gaww in 883.[8] It has been scorned by traditionaw historians, who refer to de Monk as one who "took pweasure in amusing anecdotes and witty tawes, but who was iww-informed about de true march of historicaw events", and describe de work itsewf as a "mass of wegend, saga, invention and reckwess bwundering": historicaw figures are cwaimed as wiving when in fact dead; cwaims are attributed to fawse sources (in one instance,[9] de Monk cwaims dat "to dis King Pepin [de Short] de wearned Bede has devoted awmost an entire book of his Eccwesiasticaw History"; no such account exists in Bede's history – unsurprisingwy, given dat Bede died in 735 during de reign of Charwemagne's grandfader Charwes Martew); and Saint Gaww is freqwentwy referenced as a wocation in anecdotes,[10] regardwess of historicaw verisimiwitude (Pepin de Hunchback, for exampwe, is supposed to have been sent to Saint Gaww as punishment for his rebewwion, and – in a trope owed to Livy's tawe of Tarqwin and de poppies – earns a promotion to rich Prüm Abbey after advising Charwemagne drough an impwicit parabwe of hoeing distwes to execute anoder group of rebews). The Monk awso mocks and criticizes bishops and de pridefuw, high-born incompetent, showy in dress and fastidious and wazy in habits, whiwst wauding de wise and skiwwfuw government of de Emperor wif nods to de deserving poor. Severaw of de Monk's tawes, such as dat of de nine rings of de Avar stronghowd, have been used in modern biographies of Charwemagne.[citation needed]

The Monk of Saint Gaww is commonwy bewieved to be Notker de Stammerer: Louis Hawphen[11] has dewineated de points of simiwarity between de two: de Monk cwaims to be owd, toodwess and stammerering; and bof share simiwar interests in church music, write wif simiwar idioms, and are fond of qwoting Virgiw.[12] The text is dated to de 880s from mentions in it of Carwoman (died 880), hawf-broder of Charwes de Fat, de "circumscribed wands" of Carwoman's son Arnuwf, who succeeded as King of de Germans in 887, and de destruction of Prüm Abbey, which occurred in 882.